Pete Howard is a serious collector seeking old (pre-1970) concert posters and music memorabilia, and who pays the very best prices. He lives in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Please contact him at pete@postercentral.com or (805) 540-0020.

One of the finest Johnny Cash concert posters I’ve ever seen in my life, from the year of 1961 and hailing from Eugene, Oregon.

Credit goes to Tilghman Press out of Oakland, California in designing and printing this gem. It very much has their trademark look about it.

This Johnny Cash show poster features three colors on a white background, changing from top to bottom: red, blue and then green.

The designer worked it out so that each element occupied 1/3 of the poster, and so therefore got its own color: the venue info, Mr. Cash himself, and the opening acts.

Laverne Mylllicent and Gil McElroy are the opening acts listed on this Johnny Cash tour poster. The former even gets her photograph on there, but not the latter.

And then below them, it says, “Have Fun – Go Dancing.” That’s another trademark of Tilghman, and was added to the bottom of many of their posters.

The top of this Johnny Cash broadside proclaims, in red ink, “Auditorium Fairgrounds – Eugene. Friday June 23rd. From 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Admission $2.00. Show and Dance.”

And then the color turns to blue for the Man In Black information, and then on to green for the support acts. Even the Tilghman Press credit at the bottom is in green.

One strength of this particular Johnny Cash window poster is the headliner’s photo. It’s an uncommon picture of Johnny, not one you see everywhere else. His western-themed tie really tops it off nicely.

And the two different fonts used for his name carry remarkable impact… the hollow letters for his first name, and then the big arc for his four-letter last name. It’s just very visually effective.

This Johnny Cash concert placard measures about 14” wide by 22” tall, which was very much a standard for the day. It was constructed on heavy, durable cardboard, another Tilghman standard.

Making paper concert posters never would have been a good idea in this era, because the natural weather elements would have just eaten them up if they were posted outside.

In this video, I show you three other Johnny Cash appearance posters from this exact same year, 1961. You can look at those photos, and this one from Eugene, and decide which you like the best.

But for my money, this is the one. I just love its basic simplicity, before he grew into the multi-faceted “Fabulous Johnny Cash Show” of later years.

This Johnny Cash telephone-pole poster is presented today by music historian Pete Howard. That’s me, and if you wish to chat, I can be reached thru pete@postercentral.com or by jingling (805) 540-0020. Please know that I pay the best prices in this hobby for vintage Johnny Cash tour placards and other cool concert memorabilia.

And speaking of which, to see a Johnny Cash boxing-style concert poster from 1956 plus a few other great C&W ticket posters, just slide right over to this page: http://www.postercentral.com/country.htm